thanking them for preventing a civil warfrom breaking out. in a speech, mr putin insisted his rule was not weakened during saturday s rebellion by the wagner mercenaries. he suggested russia s regular military showed restraint by not being drawn into any fighting. our moscow editor steve rosenberg reports. vladimir, vladimirovich putin. at the kremlin, it was pomp with a purpose. ..to remind russians he is still in charge around here. waiting for vladimir putin 2,500 soldiers and guards, and the defence minister the wagner mutineers wanted sacked. having survived the rebellion, it was time to say thank you. translation: you defended the constitutional order, - the lives, security and the freedom of our citizens. you have saved our motherland from upheaval. in fact, you have stopped a civil war. in fact, the reality was rather different. the wagner soldiers, who had been cheered on the streets of rostov, had only stopped their rebellion after the kremlin did a deal with them
with people who didn t have clearance. . how critical could that piece of evidence be in this case? plus, russian president vladimir putin speaks. the defiant president trying to project strength after the weekend rebellion, forcing new questions about his power. we re going to have a live report from moscow coming up as well. we begin, though, at the supreme court, where we expect more decisions to be released at any moment. we re watching for decisions on highly consequential issues. the court often waits to release the most controversial decisions until the end of a term. and we re getting right down to the wire here, folks. if we get one of those major decisions, we re going to bring you that and the very latest right away there. we re also monitoring some dramatic new developments in the trump classified documents investigation. an audio recording has surfaced in which the former president appears to discuss classified documents with people who did not have security
special counsel jack smith is looking for in the classified documents probe. as with the $5 million defamation and sexual abuse judgment against donald trump, his own words are once again being used against him in a court of law. this time we re of course talking about that stunning february 2021 audio recording. donald trump bragging about a secret document with plans to attack iran at bedminster. to a writer working on a book, the discovery of that recording according to report from the wall street journal we discussed on this program last week, we know was a watershed moment that helped spur doj into pursuing a criminal case against the ex-president. days after his indictment on 37 felony counts, the ex-president claimed this. there was no document. that was a massive amount of papers and everything else talking about iran and other things, and it may have been held up or may not, but that was not a document. i didn t have a document per se. there was nothing to declas
acknowledging he had sensitive secret documents that were not declassified. we re breaking down the recordings and what they mean for the special counsel s criminal case against him. also tonight, cnn is live in ukraine where the death toll has been rising from a new russian missile strike in a crowded city center. president volodymyr zelenskyy is calling the attack a manifestation of terror. this comes as vladimir putin is on damage control after the mutiny by wagner mercenaries. all ask former u.s. defense secretary mark esper about the rebellion and how it s influencing putin s war strategy. welcome to our viewers here in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. we begin this hour with powerful evidence against donald trump in the special counsel s case against him. cnn exclusively obtaining recordings of the former president talking about highly classified material in his possession. this comes as trump is speaking out
bissell with already for directing the manner of choosing electors begin belongs to the legislature. tonight, the massive supreme court decision that stopped a slow motion insurrection. van, the evolving alibi of an indicted ex president. you re not concerned, then, with your voice on those recordings. my voice was fine. i didn t even see the recording. just how bout of the new tapes in the trump document case is the other jack smith investigation ramps up. i did everything right, and they invited me. and why republican leaders finally acknowledging that donald trump is a loser is actually a big deal. the question is, is he the strongest to win the election? i don t know that answer. when all in starts, right now. we good evening from new york. i m chris hayes. it is not often the case these days but today the supreme court issued a long anticipated monumental ruling that actually bolsters america s democratic strengths. the case before the court today con